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A few minutes into a pickup basketball game at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School on Dec. 14, Chris Cannan passed the ball to his teammate Hollis Wilkes. Instead of catching it, Wilkes dropped to the floor, unconscious.

"It looked like he got punched in the face by Mike Tyson," recalled Cannan, a Bethesda resident.

Instead, Wilkes, 50, had been floored by cardiac arrest. Without the aid of a nearby defibrillator located in the school, he probably would have died.

Every high school and health club in Montgomery County is required to have a public access automatic external defibrillator (AED), which can also be found at malls, senior centers, most county government buildings, and other public places. There are at least 1,000 AEDs throughout the county, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Pete Piringer. They can also be bought and used in private homes without being registered.

When the machines are turned on, a series of voice commands instructs users on how to operate the device.

"They're real simple. The machine tells you everything you need to do. There are a couple of dozen people walking around today because of the chain of survival," Piringer said, referring to the use of AEDs in conjunction with 9-1-1 calls and paramedics.

When Wilkes collapsed, Stephen Taylor and others immediately tried to conduct CPR while others called 9-1-1. But when they failed to open the airway, Taylor's mind immediately went to the AED located just outside the gym, near the trophy case.

"I just kind of new where it was, and most facilities now have them," said Taylor, a Takoma Park resident who had been trained on how to use an AED at an occupational health care company he used to work for. "It was just a matter of finding it."

Meanwhile, Ritchie Davis of Silver Spring flagged down the crew of paramedics on Montgomery Avenue so they wouldn't go to a different part of the school. They arrived in less than five minutes.

"They sent an army. They were amazing," Davis recalled. "I'll never [complain] about paying Montgomery County taxes again."

Inside, Taylor had time to prep the AED and administer one jolt of electricity to an unconscious Wilkes before the paramedics rushed inside and took control of the situation. The AED is only programmed to fire if three conditions are met, including if the subject's heart has stopped.

"Some people were upset. Some people prayed. There was the gamut of different reactions you're going to have," Cannan said.

It turned out that CPR would not have helped Wilkes' situation. The defibrillator was the only effective tool available during the critical minutes immediately following his collapse. Cannan said he was told by a paramedic that 95 people out of 100 in Wilkes' position do not survive.

"Without the defibrillator, he would have died," Taylor said.

By Monday, Wilkes was sitting up in bed and joking with players who came to see him. Taylor said despite nearly dying, Wilkes was eager to resume the game, which has been going on with a core group of players for roughly a decade.

"He wants to keep hooping," he said.